NARRATOR: There's a name for this fierce pose-- the mask of masculinity.
MAN: Beat boy right here. You know, catching vics [INAUDIBLE], doing bad [BLEEP] at the age of 14. Know what I'm saying?
NARRATOR: The important thing to remember is that it's only a mask.
GEOFFREY CANADA: So much of what they learn to do is posture. Right? You identify with the aggressor. So you try and figure out, how do the toughest kids look? Let me look like that. How do the toughest kids act? Let me act like that.
MAN: Do you think America's scared of its boys?
GEOFFREY CANADA: I think America's terrified of these boys. They got all the posturing, and they've got all the stuff. And they're sitting there. Look-- these are just scared boys trying to tell the world don't mess with me.
NARRATOR: This mask of masculinity is a distorted grab at manhood, to be like the father that all boys hunger for. What's behind the mask? Almost always, it's sadness. For Hugo, home life is very different from his life on the street.
HUGO: This is my home. Been here 16 years. Home is where the heart is.
[QUIET MUSIC]
NARRATOR: Hugo never knew his father. His mother, a gang member, abandoned him as an infant.
HUGO: Birth mother left me when I was like two days old. Feel sorry for her because, you know, she missed out on me growing up. She missed all the good times and all the bad times. She can't get that back. You know? There's nothing she can do to repay me back for all the years that she missed.
GRANDMA: She didn't want him. She told me to take him, take care of him.
NARRATOR: Hugo is being raised by his grandmother, whom he calls mom. And they both care for Hugo's young nieces, abandoned by his step sister. As the older male in their life, Hugo is the only father they know.
HUGO: She left me. And these two left me. Thank you!
NARRATOR: But he's never had a father to learn from.
MARIA: Hugo, I don't want those candles on.
HUGO: Go to bed. Go to bed, Maria.
MARIA: I don't want those candles on.
HUGO: Oh, well.
MARIA: Nana's going to get mad at you.
GRANDMA: Maria, come here!
HUGO: Oh, well.
NARRATOR: He isn't able to appreciate a small child's fear of fire.
HUGO: Girl's a pain in the ass.
NARRATOR: But he's doing the best he can.
HUGO: He's about to fight! Let me see the other contender. Let me see the other contender! (LAUGHS)
NARRATOR: Hugo tells me the boys in his neighborhood organize fights all the time.
HUGO: We already got a fight in here!
NARRATOR: Tonight, he's taping one such fight in a playground near his building.
HUGO: Yeah, DJ.
[YELLING AND SWEARING]
NARRATOR: It's a match between two 9-year-olds orchestrated by older boys. The big boys coach the contenders, first holding them back, goading them, and riling them up.
HUGO: I'm not going to let you go! Damn!
[SPEAKING IN SPANISH]
[YELLING AND COMMOTION]
NARRATOR: Finally, they're set upon each other.
HUGO: Just swing! Hurry up!
[YELLING AND SWEARING]
One, two, three!
[YELLING AND COMMOTION]